Victor Bewley became director of Bewley’s cafés at the age of twenty and, the
following year, he became managing director – a position held by his father
and grandfather before him. He never felt he was a natural businessman but, as
the eldest son, he knew from a young age that he was expected to take over
the running of the popular Gra?on Street, George’s Street and Westmoreland
Street cafés. He was thrust into this role following his father Ernest’s untimely
death in 1932.
There was far more to Victor’s life, however, than the successful running of the
fleet of Bewley’s cafés for forty-five years. His memoirs, recounted to his
granddaughter several years before his death in 1999, reveal a sensitive man
with a quiet determination to increase social awareness and improve people’s
lives in any way that he could.
